Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Posted

Hi...  I'm joining mainly to make a financial donation as payment for knowledge passed along in one of Mark's YouTube videos on how to regulate a common Seiko movement.

From grade school years (1960’s) thru the 1990’s I wore wristwatches daily.   I’m going full-circle and instead of relying on a cell phone to read the time, I’m trading-in the electronic slave devices and am wearing wristwatches again.   My new watches are two Seiko Sport 5’s; one with a 7S26 and the other with a 7S36 movement.  They were running out about 20s per day and after a little trial and error (and help from Mark’s video) they’re holding about 7-8 seconds/day.

Although my formal background is electrical and computer engineering, my hobbies are related to mechanics and machine-shop work.  My lathes and mills each weigh-in around 2000lb (~900kg).  On the small side of things, I’ve made countless jigs, fixtures and molds... I don’t think I’ll be making any watch parts on my shop machines.    I’m amazed at how the horology technicians make this look so easy to do and especially enjoy seeing the specialized tools used in the horology business.  I’m tempted to get some broken movements and try my hand at repairing them.

Anyhow, I would like to purchase one or two additional wrist watches in the future.  So far, Hamilton is catching my eye.  I will read and learn with the goal of making a smarter decision when that time comes.   I probably won’t talk too much here but if I do, I promise to be brief.

 

Thanks

 

Ray CJ

(near Annapolis, Maryland USA)

  • Like 2
Posted

Well, Hello! Welcome!

Electrical and computer engineering, machinist, sounds familiar :)

And please feel free to chat away. As long as you do it in the right section I don't think anyone will mind in the least. In fact, If you have your own machine shop, it would be great to see some pictures. Case work can be done on larger machines, and people are always looking for ideas on refinishing and making custom cases.

Have Fun!

Posted

Hi dadistic.  Thanks for the welcome!

Most of machinist work I did was "one-off" recreations or emergency repairs of parts related to recreational and luxury yachts.  I was supporting the needs of a good friend who owns a large marina repair shop.  My father was an old-school tool & die maker and I worked in his shop from childhood until I graduated college.  I did a lot of work that required certified heat treating and most finished products weighed between 5 and 50 lbs (2-12kg).  The watchmaking world is a universe away from what I'm familiar with.  Here's a few photos of some smaller precision pieces.  Some are stainless steel and some are alloy steel, heat treated in the 55 Rockwell-C range.  Typical tolerances on these were around -0, +0.0003".  

When it comes to metals, metallurgy, mechanics and fundamental shop knowledge, I can chime-in on a few things if it would be helpful.  My real goal though, is to understand the differences and trade-offs in the various watch movements.  I'm rather captivated by wearing a mechanical watch after decades of telling time with digital cell phones.  In that regard, I place myself firmly in "student mode".

 

Ray

T4.JPG

T11.JPG

T6.JPG

C3.JPG

C5.JPG

P4.JPG

Posted

Thanks for the pictures! Holding 3 tenths is no small achievement, you must have gained some chops as a young'un

Anyway, all I can say is if you get some really good magnification, and then examine a watch movement, things will look very familiar :biggrin:

Posted (edited)

LOL... Yeah... Finding proper fitting winter gloves still proves to be a challenge...

3 tenths is not too hard depending on the circumstances.  Of course, the pieces I worked on were much bigger than anything found inside a watch mechanism. Most of the work I did was +/- one thou which is pretty attainable if everything in the shop is running right.  In watchmaking, the tolerance level magnitudes are just a few orders of magnitude smaller than the parts themselves.  That ups the skill level of watch making exponentially I should think.

No disrespect intended but, I have no desire to get into watchmaking.  My eyes are still good, my hands are still steady despite nerve damage from cuts, burns and misc injuries but, I don't have the right personal temperament to be a watch maker.   I know my way around CAD and CAM and used to own/run Hurco 4 axis CNC machines.  I can't imagine the cost involved in the high-end machines for mass producing watch parts.  I don't even know who makes that kind of equipment and I sure don't think I have the patience to hand-cut miniature gears.   I would love to learn how to do basic service/cleaning though.

 

Ah... you're in Chicago.  I was born/raised there.

 

Ray

Edited by RayCJ
Posted

Uh oh, this could spell trouble...  I've been very happy to wear wristwatches most recently again and decided to dress-up some recently acquired Seikos with nice leather bands.  While I was at it, I ordered a Model 1000 Timegrapher and will try my hand at observing their performance and possibly optimizing it.  As things proceed, I'll document the observations and results in a different thread in an appropriate forum here.   

So far, I've truly enjoyed all the educational videos.  1st class materials for sure.  Some day, I'd like to find a broken watch and try to repair it or possibly, purchase a very inexpensive new watch as a test specimen.

Somehow, I get the feeling this might lead to a fun new hobby...  We shall see...

 

Regards

Ray

 

BTW:  Here are the watches I now have.   

http://www.jomashop.com/seiko-watch-snk809.html

http://www.jomashop.com/seiko-watch-snk803.html

http://www.jomashop.com/seiko-5-mens-watch-snzg09.html

  • Like 1
Posted

Hello Ray,

Welcome to the forum and thanks for the insight into your skills.  Like yourself I have a boundary line and stick to tinkering, actual watch making is way beyond me but I like tinkering especially with the watches that seem to be lost causes.  I find it both relaxing and frustrating which although dichotomous, if it leads to success, gives great pleasure and fun.

I have so many projects I have lost count.  I started with a small group of watches mainly accutrons but went on to add pure mechanicals.  I still don't know what I am doing sometimes but the forum buddies amongst whom are many pro's and long time repairers who have always bailed me out and I can now contribute sometimes.

The caveat is that It does draw you in, however, as a hobby you will find it engaging and of course you can wear your success on your wrist as well.

Cheers,

Vic

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Topics

  • Posts

    • Hi, this is the first place I found when looking for advice so I hope someone could advise me.  Im completely new to touching watches but I’ve always wondered how they work.  I’ve bought a cheap movement, an ETA replica to take apart and rebuild.  Im thinking I’ll need some screwdrivers, tweezers, movement holder and a loop? My goal is just to have a go first and see if I enjoy it enough before buying more tools.  Do I buy cheap tools for now and get better quality tools later if I enjoy it like I think I will? or will the cheap tools be a pain and take some of the fun out of it?  With quality tools being relatively expensive I’m unsure what to buy.    Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
    • Yeah I have seen 44-56 documented for Elgin 18 size elsewhere. I have the style of gauge that's like a set of feeler gauges and I never noticed before today it is faintly stamped "Elgin". Pictured is the way I have been measuring. I am going to go to a larger jewel than the 42 that had been in there. I recently won an auction on a big set of Fitrite jewels all in the little bottles, to discover that the what's actually in the bottles bears no relation to the chart of sizes printed on the box. In most cases it seems to be all mixed so in fact I have about 24 little bottles and thousands of assorted jewels of all diameters and lengths, which is better than nothing. But since I don't have a micrometer with a table, measuring for the exact diameter will be a big job. Instead I will test a lot of them in the fork slot the same way I measure with the gauge. But this is still the next thing. I have to get the escapement to unlock first.
    • it would be nice to have the exact model of the watch the or a picture so we can see exactly what you're talking about. this is because the definition of Swiss watch could be a variety of things and it be helpful if we could see exactly the watch your dealing with then in professional watch repair at least some professionals they do pre-cleaned watches. In other words the hands and dial come off and the entire movement assembled goes through a cleaning machine sometimes I think a shorter bath perhaps so everything is nice and clean for disassembly makes it easier to look for problems. Then other professionals don't like pre-cleaning because it basically obliterates the scene of the crime. Especially when dealing with vintage watches where you're looking for metal filings and problems that may visually go away with cleaning. Then usually super sticky lubrication isn't really a problem for disassembly and typically shouldn't be a problem on a pallet fork bridge because there shouldn't be any lubrication on the bridge at all as you typically do not oil the pallet fork pivots.  
    • A few things you should find out before you can mske a decision of what to do. As Richard said, what is the crown and all of the crown components made of . Then also the stem .  The crown looks to have a steel washer that retains a gasket. So be careful with what chemicals you use to dissolve any stem adhesives or the use of heat. You might swell or melt the gasket unless you are prepared to change that also . The steel washer maybe reactive to alum. Something I've just used to dissolve a broken screw from a plate. First drilled out the centre of the screw with a 0.5mm carbide . Dipped only the section that held the broken screw in Rustins rust remover. This is 40 % phosphoric acid. 3 days and the screw remains were completely dissolved, no trace of steel in the brass threads. A black puddle left in the solution.
    • I suppose this will add to the confusion I have a roller jewel assortment. It lists out American pocket watches for Elgin 18 size and even 16 size it's a 50. But not all the various companies used 50-50 does seem to be common one company had a 51 and the smallest is 43. American parts are always interesting? Francis Elgin for mainsprings will tell you the thickness of the spring other companies will not even though the spring for the same number could come in a variety of thicknesses. But if we actually had the model number of your watch we would find it probably makes a reference that the roller jewel came in different dimensions. So overlook the parts book we find that? So it appears to be 18 and 16 size would be the same sort of the arson different catalog numbers and as I said we don't have your Mongol know which Log number were supposed to be using. Variety of materials garnered her sapphire single or double but zero mention about diameters. Then in a section of rollers in this case rollers with jewels we do get this down in the notes section Roller specifications but of course zero reference to the jewel size. I was really hoping the roller jewel assortment would give us sizes it doesn't really. But it does show a picture of how one particular roller jewel gauge is used  
×
×
  • Create New...